Although it may have seemed Miley Cyrus was everywhere throughout the last few months of 2013 she actually only made a few appearances tied to the October release of her album Bangerz: MTV’s VMAs, some other TV spots, the iHeart Radio Festival, and several Jingle Balls. That’s changing this month as Miley embarks on her fourth concert tour. The Bangerz Tour opened on Valentine’s Day at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena and winds its way to 39 stops in Canada and the U.S. through the end of April, then 21 shows in Europe during May and June. Though there’s only been three concerts so far it’s received plenty of buzz, particularly for her acoustic take on OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” paired with “Jolene” by her Godmother, Dolly Parton (the latter was also part of Miley’s MTV Unplugged set last month, as was Madonna’s “Don’t Tell Me” and Arctic Monkeys’s “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?”). But there’s also been a bit of backlash. “‘Miley’s management have been flooded with complaints, mainly from parents, since her tour began last week in Canada with calls for the entire tour to be axed,‘” an anonymous source told The Daily Mail. Nevermindthe 15 foot flying hot dog Miley rides in the concert, she also mimics oral sex on a Bill Clinton impersonator (read Rolling Stones’ report “Eight Most Outrageous Moments of Miley Cyrus’ ‘Bangerz’ Show” for more details).

The concerts so far have begun with a pre-recorded video projected across a giant screen at the back of the stage that eventually zooms into a close-up of Miley’s face. Cyrus then makes her entrance through the projection of her mouth. If that sounds familiar it may be because from 2009-2012 The Flaming Lips began their concerts with a pre-recorded video projected across their video wall that eventually zoomed into a woman’s psychedelic crotch, from which the band were “birthed” on to stage. (Or it could be because Lady Gaga came on stage with her own twist on the Lips entrance in 2012). There’s other Lips signatures in Miley’s new show as well: dancing furry animals, a blizzard of confetti, etc. There’s also some musical similarities. Compare the beat, tempo and harmonic flow of “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” to “We Can’t Stop” for instance.

The Lips influence on Miley isn’t a surprise for fans that closely follow either artist. Wayne Coyne was in the audience and backstage last night and both he and bandmate Steven Drozd are supposedly performing “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” with Miley tomorrow at her Los Angeles’ Staples Center concert. The first picture above shows Wayne and Miley rehearsing yesterday for that performance and the second shows Coyne and others backstage last night.

The Flaming Lips Asked Miley Cyrus to be Part of Their Halloween Blood Baths Last October

She Wasn’t…
…..Instead a Miley Impersonator Doused Wayne Coyne with Buckets of “Real Pig’s Blood” to Start the Show

As the rest of the Lips played 1978′s Halloween movie theme with Gumby (actually Tame Impala’s Jay Watson) on the teenage engineering OP-1 synth and a masked Kevin Parker on guitar, Coyne stood center stage on his platform dressed as Stephen King’s “Carrie” and had blood poured over him by a fake Cyrus. While she was piggyback riding a grizzly bear. They repeated this all three nights.

The Lips Want Miley’s Stage Props

Rolling Stone Asked Wayne About Miley in a December 2013 Interview

Rolling Stone: Are you a Miley fan?Wayne Coyne: “I like her aesthetic more than a Lady Gaga, who this year to me feels like, ‘Take me serious’ and Miley’s like, ‘I don’t give a fuck,’ which to me is always a lot more fun. I really like that thing where the people are inside the rainbow and they walk around. I just like that sort of stuff.”

Fans Have Taken Notice and Joked on Twitter About a Flaming Lips – Miley Cyrus Collaboration